Ardfinnan Castle

In a strategic position on top of a massive rock outcrop overlooking the River Suir to the S, located in the NE angle of the bawn (TS088-001008-). According to the annals King John erected a castle at Ardfinnan in 1185 (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 27-8), this was probably when the land was granted to 'Philip of Worcester [who] was certainly in possession of Offa (alias Ardfinnan) at an early stage of the conquest, for he granted a fief there to Gerald fitz Maurice' (Empey 1981, 8, 10). It was beseiged during the Cromwellian wars in the mid-17th century (Killanin and Duignan 1967, 66). The Civil Survey (1654-6) in relation to 'The Mannor & castle of Ardfynane' in 1640, lists the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore as the proprietor and 'Richard Butler of Ardfinane' as 'Lessee' and states that 'Upon the s[ad]d lands stands a castle & the walls of a castle, ye walls of a stone house & a bawne' (Simington 1934, vol. 2, 410). A roughly circular keep (int. diam. 6.9m N-S; 7.2m E-W; wall T 2.3m) which is four-storeys high and composed of limestone rubble, roughly coursed with a substantial base-batter (Wth 0.6m). It is entered at ground-floor level in the SE face, though the opening was much modified in the 19th century. The ground-floor chamber contains three embrasures, two with loops, that in the NE being a cross-loop, and one with a modified window opening in the N face. The ground floor was vaulted, however, this vault was modified in the 19th century when vaulted arches supported on six rectangular columns were inserted. Access from the ground to the first floor was via a spiral stairs (int. dims. 2.3m) which is contained within a projecting semi-circular turret on the SW face, entered from the W side of the ground-floor door embrasure. At first-floor level the spiral stairs leads to a mural stair in the W face which opens into an entrance embrasure, which possibly contained a light. This has been broken out to form a first-floor entrance to facilitate access from the garden. The first-floor chamber was lit by three loops and there is an inserted fireplace in the N wall. The second floor rested on a wooden floor which no longer survives and was accessed directly from the spiral stairs. The second floor was modified in the 15th/16th century, two window embrasures in the E and S have inserted two-light cusped ogee-headed windows while the embrasure containing a cross-loop in the N face has been altered to become a flat-lintelled fireplace of joggle-jointed dressed limestone with a chamfered edge. Another embrasure in the NW face has been blocked up. The spiral stairs continues up to battlemented wall-walk, of which only the crenellations on the N face remain. The exterior of the castle is quite heavily ivy-clad and the interior walls at first and second-floor level are obscured by vegetation. The keep is of early 13th-century date with later modifications from the 15th up to the 19th century. A towerhouse (TS088-001009-), still occupied, was built onto the SE angle of the bawn in the 15th century.